Page 70 of Sweet Music
They hurried across the snowy lawn, andhe watched, impressed, as she quickly scaled the ice-crusted makeshift ladder.
He’d gone up here himself so many times over the years when he was feeling down or wanted to get away from the world. It was the one place in Sugarville Grove that no one else ever seemed to know about.
“Cody,” he heard her say softly when she reached the top.
The relief he felt almost knocked him right off his feet.
But he followed her up, uncertain whether the two of them would want him there in light of what Cody had just learned. But knowing that he needed to see the boy and say what he had to say, now more than ever. Cash was done holding his own feelings in.
He finished climbing up quickly, glad the wooden planks still held his grown-man weight, and pulled himself into the dim interior of the treehouse.
As soon as his eyes adjusted, he spotted Bella holding Cody, her head resting on his shoulder as she silently sobbed.
Cody gazed at Cash over his guardian’s head, his expression fierce and sad all at once.
“Cody,” Cash began.
25
BELLA
Bella held Cody in her arms as she wept with relief.
I’m sorry, Harper,she told her cousin inwardly.I’m so sorry I almost lost him.
She drank in the musky, teenage scent of him. He might be almost as big as a man, but inside he was still very much a little boy—one who needed reassurance and love in the face of all he had lost.
She had clearly fallen down on the job, but she was determined to do better.
“Cody,” Cash said softly.
Cody had been hugging her back, hard. But his grip loosened at the sound of Cash’s voice.
She forced herself to release the boy, though all she wanted was to cling to him like a vine for the rest of both their natural lives.
When Cody pulled away, she saw that Cash was facing the boy with the most intense expression she’d ever seen from him.
She wasn’t sure what she had expected when she called Cash. Honestly, she had assumed he had already left town with the band, and that at best he would send Cody a message asking him to get in touch with her.
And given what she had disclosed to him about his relationship to Cody, she wasn’t even sure he would do that. She had known it wasn’t right to keep the truth from him, but a small part of her hadn’t wanted to share it because she had so badly wanted his help.
But despite the news, he was here, looking at Cody like he was still the most important person in his world.
“Did she tell you?” Cody whispered.
“About that stupid piece of paper?” Cash asked. “Yeah. But it doesn’t matter.”
“What are you talking about?” Cody whispered. “I took aDNA test.”
“I don’t care about biology,” Cash said, shrugging. “You’re my kid.”
Bella’s jaw dropped and she looked over at Cody, who seemed to be having the same reaction she was.
“Listen,” Cash said, crawling closer to them. “The minute I saw you playing, I knew you were mine. You felt the same way when we met, didn’t you?”
Cody nodded slowly after a moment.
“And we really do just click, don’t we?” Cash asked him. “We dig the same music, we have the same sense of humor, we even like the same flavor of creemee. The first time we jammed, I could tell that you feel the music the same way I do, like it just wants to come bursting out of you and if you don’t get an instrument in front of youright away, you might just explode. And you fit in at the big Lawrence dinners like you’ve been there all your life. You can’t tell me we’re not family. Plus, you have my roguish good looks and heartbreaker smile.”
